This month's Ocean Watch Essay comes in part from the Pew Charitable Trust's Marine
Conservation Campaign. Learn more about this campaign here. Special thanks to the
Pew Charitable Trust for the contribution to Sailors for the Sea's Ocean Watch Essays.

The increasing industrialization of our oceans threatens the fragile health of marine
ecosystems. If poorly planned or managed, drilling for oil and natural gas in federal
waters, developing aquaculture and building wind, wave and tidal energy facilities all
have the potential to damage America's marine environment. Currently, several federal
agencies manage industrial activities in our oceans under a number of statutes, and there
is little coordination or consideration of the cumulative impacts their decisions have on
the health and productivity of marine ecosystems and coastal communities.
Among its cardinal recommendations, the Pew Oceans Commission called for
establishing an enforceable national policy to protect, maintain and restore the health
of marine ecosystems. This will not only support economically and culturally valuable
fisheries, but also provide countless recreational opportunities for the public and
protect critically important ecological services, such as air and water purification.
The commission also recommended changing the organizational structure and laws
governing our oceans to make their protection and productivity a priority, and it urged
better coordination and management of the full spectrum of activities affecting marine
resources. Finally, it proposed establishing a permanent source of funding for ocean and
coastal conservation and management.

Oceans sustain our coastal economies, but more importantly they are essential to the
health of the planet's air and water systems. Pew's Campaign for Healthy Oceans seeks
the changes needed to restore and protect this vital part of our natural environment.

On July 19th, President Obama signed an Executive Order establishing a National Policy
for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great Lakes. That Executive Order adopts
the Final Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. It directs
Federal agencies to take the appropriate steps to implement them.

The Executive Order strengthens ocean governance and coordination, establishes guiding
principles for ocean management, and adopts a flexible framework for effective coastal
and marine spatial planning to address conservation, economic activity, user conflict, and
sustainable use of the ocean, our coasts and the Great Lakes.
The Executive Order establishes an interagency National Ocean Council to coordinate
ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes issues across the Federal Government and implement the
National Policy.

Under the Executive Order, coastal and marine spatial planning would be regional in
scope, developed cooperatively among Federal, state, tribal, and local authorities, and
include substantial stakeholder, scientific, and public input.

Similar to the Massachusetts Ocean Plan where Sailors for the Sea is a partner, the
coastal and marine spatial planning framework:

• Establishes a new regional approach to protect the ocean, our coasts, and
  the Great Lakes to decrease user conflicts, improve planning and regulatory
  efficiencies and decrease costs and delays, and preserve critical ecosystem
  services.
  
• Establishes regional planning bodies, bringing Federal, state, and tribal partners
  together in an unprecedented manner to jointly plan for the future of the ocean,
  our coasts, and the Great Lakes.
  
• Places science-based information at the heart of decision-making.
  Emphasizes stakeholder and public participation.

The National Ocean Council will begin building coastal and marine spatial plans during
the next 12 months first phase. The National Ocean Council and regional planning bodies
will finalize and implement initial coastal and marine spatial plans in all regions by 2015.
The full text of the National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Coasts, and Great
Lakes may be found at www.whitehouse.gov/oceans, and further developments will
continue to be updated on the Sailors for the Sea website.

What can you do?

The National Ocean Council will begin the work of implementing National Ocean
Policy in 2010, and there will be numerous opportunities for individuals and groups to
participate in this process. You can begin now by:

• Contacting the National Ocean Council online with comments, questions or
  suggestions at http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/oceans/contact.
  
• Getting in touch with your local representative work to schedule a workshop,
  town meeting or hearing about National Ocean Policy. Find out who your
  representative is here.
  
• Learning more about the Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan, the first of its kind in
  the nation and an important building block for the Obama Administration's effort
  to develop a National Ocean Policy built around regional ocean management
  plans.